


When It Rains

by unrealityfreak



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, M/M, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-01
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-11-06 12:33:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/418970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrealityfreak/pseuds/unrealityfreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade is sick of being so far from Rose. John is the best brother ever, and he fixes it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When It Rains

Jade goes outside every time it rains.

Sometimes it means she has to drop the laundry she's in the middle of folding, or tear out of a blanket cocoon, or rouse herself from sleep. But the moment she realises that rain is falling, she's out on the grass in bare feet or socks or, less often, shoes that she's remembered to put on before leaving the house.

She stays out for a minimum of ten minutes. Whether because she gets carried away and suddenly realises she's completely soaked despite the light sprinkle, or because that's how long it takes to walk slowly down the street and back, it's always at least that long. Once she stayed out for an hour and John found her dripping with skywater and saline and she wouldn't budge so he had to pick her up and carry her indoors.

He can't bear to see her sad, so he never says a word when the pattering on the roof tells him that she's about to tear out the door, if she hasn't left already.

If it's been too long, and she's starting to get antsy, he'll look up a weather report and leave the print-out on her bed. He suspects she keeps it under her pillow every night until it's wet again.

Of course, she still talks to Rose online, and they call each other daily. The problem isn't necessarily that Jade misses her, it's that she _longs_ for her. Where Rose is a million miles away, the rain touches her, slides across her skin, warms to her heat and soaks into her. Leaves the fine hair of her arms on end and pressure on her eyelids when she turns her face upward with a name on her lips. John aches to fill the space, but he's not Rose, and he can't afford a plane ticket, and they knew it would be like this but he's sick of seeing her so elatedmorose every time the weather turns.

But Dave has a plan.

Three bribes, two summer jobs, and thirty-six rainstorms later, they've scraped together enough to take a road trip. Jade just about pops his head off with the hug she throws around his neck when he tells her. He couldn't imagine feeling happier as she bounds up to her room to pack. He texts Dave, and he says he's got things covered on his end, just for the love of fuck egbert dont talk to rose at all she'll see right through you.

Jade and John cramming together in a four-door with suitcases in the back seat and a cooler at Jade's feet is a lot more fun than either of them anticipated. The girl is part dog, he swears, and she's so cute all curled up on her half-reclined seat that he doesn't say anything about the atrocious seat belt etiquette she's displaying.

Sometimes they sing together to whatever pop hit happens to be playing on the nearest radio station. But when they're between signals, or the music that they're picking up is just plain uninteresting, they lapse into idle chatter, or comfortable silence. John is glad he's driving automatic, so he doesn't have to worry about shifting even when he's pulling into a parking lot somewhere, and he can hold her hand while she sleeps.

They visit some pretty cool touristy things on their way. Might as well enjoy themselves, right? Jade doesn't say out loud that she'd rather just _get there,_ and John makes sure they don't stay too long at any one attraction. He does, however, buy her souvenirs from each individual state they stop in. She promises to keep them all, even the I  <3 WYOMING t-shirt.

It gets a lot more crowded and a lot less quiet when they pick Dave up. He has the other half of the money, and they haven't been spending wisely so the first thing they do is call him and ask for help with gas, since they kind of ran out five blocks away from his apartment. He has to walk to meet them and help them push the car into the station, and he buys himself a bag of jerkey while it's filling up. He calls it his I-didn't-fuck-up-so-I-get-to-eat-this-jerkey jerkey. Jade pouts because she loves the teriyaki kind and she can goddamn _smell it,_ and John snatches it from him while he's waving it around and passes it to her without looking away from the road. Dave pouts (whines) for three whole minutes before a song comes on the radio that he refuses to let them turn off until he's sung the chorus at least once at the top of his lungs.

Jade actually gets a little carsick halfway to New York and Dave is driving so he pulls over while John reaches around her seat to rub her back. They're nowhere near a rest stop but there's a shoulder on this stretch of highway and Jade leans over to heave onto the gravel while John holds her hair and Dave just kind of stands awkwardly and watches. John teases him for being totally useless in an emergency situation and he snipes back that it's not an emergency unless there's blood, he would be so on top of shit if there were blood. John says what about panic attacks? And Dave shuts up and gets back in the car.

Jade can't drive, so she ends up in the passenger's seat pretty much the whole trip. Dave tries to fight her for it when they're stopped at a grocery store in Virginia, saying if she takes the back she can use his shirt as a pillow and prop herself up on the suitcases, but she says that's so silly, she can just recline the seat and it's the same thing. A minute later John asks them what they're arguing about and Dave closes his mouth with finality in Jade's direction before changing the subject. Jade just rolls her eyes and gets in the passenger's seat once they've purchased their energy drinks and granola bars and peanut butter (Dave).

Jade is bouncing in her seat when they get close. John is driving again and he watches her giant smile in his peripheral vision. Dave is zonked out until Jade actually screams for joy, and he bolts upright, fists balled and guarding his face before he realises what's happened and that he lost his shades at some point during his nap. In the time it takes him to get them back on, they're pulling up in front of Rose's house.

Roxy greets them with a wave before yelling back into the house, "Rosie, you've got _guests,_ " and winks at the three of them before disappearing inside again. Rose runs out in her pyjamas, breathless, and Jade gathers her up in a hug and spins her around while she laughs in surprise. Dave and John look politely away when they kiss.

Rose helps them carry their things inside, and brings out a plastic bag for the garbage they've accumulated. Roxy was in on the plan from the beginning, and has arranged the guest room for the boys. Jade, of course, never leaves Rose's side, and no one has a big enough death wish to tell them it's inappropriate for two young ladies in a relationship to sleep in the same bed.

John takes the guest bed the first night, and Dave crashes on top of the sleeping bag on the floor, covered by nothing but his shirt and boxers. John thinks he's crazy, but whatever.

The next morning, the girls are wearing the same pyjamas they wore last night, and neither looks more than sleep-rumpled, but either way no one says a word.

Dave and John have only planned for two days and two nights, so they leave the girls alone as often as possible. John sometimes gets tackled by his crazy-happy sister and hugs her tight before she sweeps off again to do whatever she and Rose are doing. It makes him feel full and warm, and he doesn't mind barely seeing Rose because he knows she's with the one she loves.

The boys watch some of Rose's movies and fail not to make fun of them at every opportunity. Frankly, if Rose weren't so preoccupied with her girlfriend, they probably would have been skinned for some of the jokes they crack at the screen when someone French says something particularly dramatically, often re-enacting scenes together and exaggerating their fake accents, not even trying to get the foreign words right. All in all, it's a blast, even if Rose's mom skulks around being all creepy.

John lets Dave have the bed the second night, joking that Dave must really be cool if he can survive the icy hardwood through only two thin layers of nylon and fabric. Dave says there's insulation in between and if he's going to complain he might as well climb in the bed. So he does.

Dave is actually really warm, and they sleep a few inches apart; Dave on his side facing away and John lying face-up, wishing they didn't have to leave the next day.

As soon as everyone's awake and packed up, Roxy makes breakfast. From scratch. Three of them are surprised that there hasn't been alcohol sneaked into the recipe somewhere, and Rose just makes a face at the perceived ironic attack. She eats as primly as a queen and rinses her own dishes before absconding with Jade.

John takes a walk along the river and finds Dave with his feet in a short distance from the house, but decides to leave him alone. He cuts away from the water and loops back around to the car, laying back on the hood and watching the sky. 

The girls are nowhere to be seen until the very last minute, and John can see Jade trying her hardest not to cry when they kiss, chastely on the cheek, goodbye. Rose hugs each of the boys briefly and kisses them both on the cheek as well. Roxy stands beside her and waves her entire arm as Dave drives them away.

Jade isn't sad during the return trip. Sometimes she gets a little quiet, but when John checks for tears all he sees is the scarf Rose gave her tucked up under her chin and a soft smile on her face.

They don't hit any of the tourist spots on the way back, but they do have a pool noodle fight in a store in Tennessee. Dave takes pictures with his iPhone and someone's child stands close by and stares like he wants to play too. John knights him with his bright blue noodle and they run away when the kid's mom comes around a corner and gives them a Look.

When they get back to Texas Dave makes little pomp of his separation from his friends, but he does kiss John's knuckles just before flashstepping inside. He won't text back for nearly an hour afterward, or so Jade reports from the copilot's chair. John can't help but feel a little floaty, and he swears his knuckles are still tingling the next time they stop for gas. (Dave left them the rest of his money under the condition that they not buy any more stupid shit and actually keep the car running.)

When the dark-haired siblings get home, they leave their suitcases in the car and collapse on their own beds despite it still being light out. They text each other from under the covers like children and refuse to be almost-adults again until night has fallen, and lo, it rains.

John meets Jade in the hallway, and they reach for each other's hands, and together they dance on the front lawn in the pouring rain and laugh until they fall over, utterly content.


End file.
